In the past year I’ve had dozens of conversations with colleagues, experts, politicians, analysts, etc, about whether or not Al Qaeda is present in Gaza, especially foreign, non-Palestinian jihadis. As such, this news caught my eye today.
Hamas has extradited a wanted Al-Qaida militant to Egypt in exchange for Cairo’s agreement to allow dozens of stranded Hamas and Islamic Jihad members to return to the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported on Monday.
The not always reliable Debka file claims the Al Qaeda militant turned over to Egypt was Muhammed Fayad Ibrahim from Nebi Saweil near Cairo. They reported he was Al Qaeda-Egypt’s senior liaison officer with Osama bin Laden and that he gained asylum in the Gaza Strip in July.
If true, it’s interesting that an Al Qaeda militant would have turned to Gaza for refuge and was able to smuggle himself into the territory without a problem. The fact that Gaza is so cut off from the outside world has always been one of the arguments against Al Qaeda establishing itself there.
So if it’s all true as reported, the big question is what he’s been up to since July. Has Hamas had him in custody? Who’s he been staying with? And what would it really matter even if there was an active Al Qaeda cell in Gaza?
It’s not surprising that Hamas didn’t stomach an Al Qaeda operative’s presence for long. Even if Hamas did feel the need to justify itself after Zawahiri criticized the movement for the Mecca accord, Hamas’ relationship with Egypt is too important. That being said, Egypt didn’t get their jihadi for cheap. Hamas got an estimatd 85 militants let back into Gaza. And symbolically speaking, this deal with Egypt represents perhaps the first time it has cracked the international siege since June.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Pappe // Oct 1, 2007 at 8:54 pm
I wonder what is going on with Al-Qaida in Iraq:
“This year, for the first time since US troops have been in Iraq, the Ramadan Spike has failed to materialize. Few events in Iraq were as predictable as the yearly rise in causalities it signified. In 2004, 2005, and 2006, shortly before and during the autumn months in which Ramadan has recently occurred, violence against US forces escalated significantly.
Not this year.
The missing Ramadan Spike is an immutable sign that Iraq has entered a new phase. What seemed to be an unstoppable cycle of violence has diminished. Ramadan began either on September 12th or 13th of 2007, depending on your source. As of this writing Ramadan is more than halfway over. Not only has the monthly U.S. death toll decreased since August (barring any spectacular attacks or accidents before the end of the month) but within the month the daily death toll appears to have actually slowed down over Ramadan.
The Ramadan Spike has become the Ramadan Slump.”
2 Shual // Oct 1, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Pappe,
its nice from you to play the herald of lgf-announcements. But can you please tell us what your c&p-orgy has to do with the post of Charles?
My point of view is that Debka [Al Qaeda’s Appearance in Gaza is a Dangerous New Terrorist Manifestation - Aug05, etc.] is fabricating a story. The Maan article [Al-Qaeda leader hiding in Gaza, who was accused of being involved in attacks on tourists in the southern Egyptian city of Assiut???] is not much better.
I suspect a deal Hamasniks in - Shalit out, but both sides want to save their faces. If I am rigth, we will see movement in the Shalit-case in the next two weeks.
3 Compulsive Reader // Oct 1, 2007 at 10:56 pm
Is it possible that this guy was Jemmaa Islamiya pre their Al-Qaida “partnership”? Which might actually make some sense, and Debka is extrapolating? Charles, got a JI roll-call handy?
4 Pappe // Oct 2, 2007 at 5:14 am
“I suspect a deal Hamasniks in - Shalit out”
I think you will be proven wrong.
btw, I forgot the link:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/10/speaker_pelosi_and_the_vanishi.html
so it is not LGF.
5 Shual // Oct 2, 2007 at 5:43 am
CR,
possible is everything, but think of it simple: ONE fugitive [of claimed and “new” 30] against a bunch of trained figthers and high-ranking politicians? I give you an apple for a Ferrari?
But debka? Foirst message: “On July 29, DEBKAfile disclosed the transit of 30 al Qaeda network operatives from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. They were led by Osama bin Laden’s liaison man, Muhammed Fayed Ibrahim, formerly posted in Nebi Suwail near Cairo and now in position on Israel’s southwestern border.” [Mohammed Fayad Ibrahim’s presence in Gaza was published by DEBKAfile on August 5. - Check your dates first, idiots!]
I have not heard of a terrorist of that name. [But I like this one from Debka: “Cairo warns that unless the seven smuggler clans are quickly put out of business, they will soon extend their tunnel system up to the West Bank, giving Hamas and al Qaeda an accessible corridor for expansion.”] But what I know is that the “30 slipped - message” is a simple copy of BrigGen Arditis claims in October 2005 and after that they were already operating [MajGen. Aharon Zeevi in November 2005].
6 issandr // Oct 2, 2007 at 7:31 am
Remember also that it was reported that Hamas handed over a bunch of intelligence files seized from the Preventive Security Apparatus that detailed the dahlan gang’s use of certain Gaza clans to generate non-Hamas Islamist gangs, some of them possibly inspired by al-Qaeda. This could be a continuation of Hamas’ policy of making itself useful to Egypt, particularly as the Gaza connection in the Sinai attacks of 2004-2006 was always something the Egyptians insisted on (even if it appeared to be mostly Sinai Bedouin-backed).
I don’t see why Gaza would not be a place where al-Qaeda affiliated networks could thrive considering the sheer misery and lack of rule of law that has characterized it over the last few years and that there are well-established smuggling networks there (again the Bedouin connection). At the end of the day much of this depends on how solid the Hamas claims that Dahlan cultivated al-Qaeda-inspired gangs in the area are.
(All above with the caveat that what al-Qaeda means is very loose — we could just be talking about local gangs who like to read about “Sheikh Osama” on the internet.)
Shual, I think the Debka July 29 thing ou mentioned is more about Hamas militants who were in Egypt (which doesn’t even mean that they really were Hamas members, just not people approved by Fatah and Israel who were among the first to return to the OTs after being stranded in Rafah.
7 yaacov // Oct 2, 2007 at 9:00 am
Isn’t Gaza supposed to be under Israeli siege? Isn’t the entire Israel-still-controls-Gaza thesis predicated on Isreal’s total control of the entrance to Gaza? So how can Hamas and the Egyptians can do such things? According to Haaretz, all Israel can do about it is to be vexed, and to kvetch.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/908898.html
Furthermore, if you believe the same report in Haaretz, Israel hasn’t had the power of decision since 2005, and since 2006 not even the power of influence.
8 Shual // Oct 2, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Issandr, thank you
but it has to be a different story. Debka reported that it already happened on 29.07.07 and the first transit of “stranded” happened on 30.07.07. The Egyptians, Israel and Palestinians [including the embassy in Cairo] aprooved a list of 625 people reported on 28.07.07 and I can not belive that they oversaw 30 Egyptian Al-Queda-fugitives. I think the message at Debka was installed in front and cause of Ehud Baraks visit to Egypt and wanted to symbolize a heavy front [US-Egypt-Israel] against Hamas and as a warning against Abbas not to deal with them. [”If you deal with them, you deal with al-Queda.”]
Pappe,
they are sitting in the same boat of paranoid americans. Give your own brain a chance!
9 issandr // Oct 2, 2007 at 1:52 pm
What’s being reported in the Arabic press (probably heavily relying on the Israeli press) is that Egypt opened a breach to let the 85 Hamas guys through and then, after getting its guy, reported the breach to the Israelis…
If we are to believe that Hamas genuinely wants to return to a national unity govt as it claims (note recent offer to restore security control to Fatah pending a new security system setup), it would not surprise me that it is receiving Egyptian backing in this. Long term I have a hard time believing the Egyptians are not eager for a return to the status quo ante bellum between the Palestinian factions.
10 Shual // Oct 2, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Issandr, your comment is great,
but I have doubts that the “Israel is sleeping, while Egypt and Hams deal with each other”-theory can verified at this point of the story.
I can remember first reports [think Haaretz] that some figthers [of Hamas] wanted to break into the Gaza-Strip and after that a deal was reported. Maybe it is simple as it can be: They wanted in and Egypt and Israel don’t wanted to escalate the situation.
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